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The Zeiger Firm

Criminal Appeals

Most jurisdictions in the United States have three levels of courts: trial, first appellate, and second appellate. You must exhaust all of your legal remedies at the lower level before you can appeal your case to a higher court. In addition, two separate systems of government operate side by side everyday: Federal and State.

State System

The State System Court is very similar. In Pennsylvania the trial court is called the Court of Common Pleas, the first appellate court is called the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, and the second appellate court is called the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

In this case however, if you are unhappy with the result from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, you can still appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Federal System

In the Federal System, the trial court is called the District Court. The District Court is where you have your first trial. If you are unhappy with the outcome of your case in the District Court, you can appeal your case to the first appellate, called the Circuit Court. If you are unhappy with the outcome of your case in the Circuit Court, you can appeal your case to the second and highest appellate, the United States Supreme Court.

For example, a resident of Philadelphia would first go before the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, then to the Third Circuit Court ( which is the Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania), and then to the US Supreme Court.

Our Clients

Contact us now for a free consultation with a Pennsylvania Criminal Appeals Attorney and discuss your criminal appeal. Whether the prosecution is in Philadelphia, State College, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Reading, Scranton, Harrisburg, Erie or any community in Pennsylvania, we can help.

We file appeals throughout Pennsylvania for people who were convicted in the smallest counties to the largest metropolitan areas. Our attorneys defend people’s rights in Common Pleas Courts throughout Pennsylvania, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals of the United States of America.

Whether your case is ripe for a direct appeal on you wish to file an appeal under the Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), our experienced lawyers are ready to help you and your family today.

Time after time we get phone calls and emails from people who are unhappy with the system, unhappy with the results of their trial, and unhappy with the way the system treated them through the trial and sentencing process.

Once prospective clients meet with us, they become our clients for years to come because we believe that justice is an essential human value, and we never stop fighting for our clients, even when other lawyers tell people to give up.

Levin & Zeiger LLP is located at 1500 John F. Kennedy Blvd, Suite 620a, Philadelphia, PA 19102. We can be reached at 215.825.5183. Our facsimile is 215.279.8702. Feel free to email us at info@pacriminalappeals.com